Food Inflation

Recommended Posts

I was shopping for tomorrow's sunday roast plus a few other bits and pieces earlier. It's been several months since I last bothered (on account of me being lazy) but I was knocked for six by the prices asked.

Coconut milk. Expected price around a quid. Asking price for the easily found brand was Â£1.40 (though I found a cheaper brand in the "foreign food" section at the back of the store).

It looks like there's been a 30 to 50 percent price jump on these items over the last year. These are all items I usually buy fairly regularly, so I have a reasonable idea of what they did cost. Other staples such as canned tomatoes have also become ridiculous recently.

This was at the local Megatesco. Do I just need to wake up and shop elsewhere or is this another indication of the UK being in real trouble?

My local dodgy south coast off-license is also seeing the pinch - I can no longer get six cans of Stella for a fiver.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I was shopping for tomorrow's sunday roast plus a few other bits and pieces earlier. It's been several months since I last bothered (on account of me being lazy) but I was knocked for six by the prices asked.

Um, diddums?

I see mixed signals, but food this year has tended downwards on balance. On the other hand, Morrisons have just this week lost the four premium beers (or ciders) for a fiver deal, and upped it to Â£5.50. Wish I'd had notice of that in time to stock up!

I'm much more alarmed seeing the bike I bought last year for Â£800 is now Â£1499. Ouch! Guess something like that will apply to other imported goods, other than those with a powerful long-term downward trend (newspeak: deflation) that characterises everything-electronic.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest happy?

Guest happy?

I thought food prices where coming down, isn't that why RPI is so low. Wasn't lower food costs cited as an official reason?

RPI is low because of the house price crash. CPI is still way above government targets from what I recall. As always inflation depends entirely on your age - manufactured goods (mostly bought by the young) are getting so cheap they face the wait-till-tomorrow-it'll-be-cheaper syndrome. Old people of course need to eat today - some food is falling in price but staples are still incredibly high (e.g. a bottle of scotch just keeps on rising).

Personally, I'd probably do without the beef - or get a cheaper cut and casserole it. The alcohol is an essential and one should never compromise - it's a false economy as you end-up scrubbing your boots in patchouli.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I think it was BlooLoo who used to post the cost of a monthly shop - he(?) sent his offspring at Uni a monthly care package - made up of exactly the same stuff each month - it was a great indicator for prices - I wonder if he still does it?

I've noticed that basic products like canned toms and beans are up 50% on last years prices, meat is pricier, and stocks on the shelves are more spread out so there's less to discount at the end of the day.

I take my grandmother shopping once a fortnight - she buys very similar stuff each time - nothing fancy, she still cooks from scratch, so mainly basics, no ready meals or anything (apart from ready made pies...). A couple of years ago, it would have been about Â£25-Â£30 for a shop. Now it averages out to Â£50 a time.

Edit - as for the beef, as Happy? says - go for a cheaper cut and casserole it - Brisket is great stuff, and you can get a very large lump of it for about £5-6. It tastes great, sling it in the oven in a lidded casserole dish with some sauce and forget about it for as long as you like. Sadly, even Brisket has risen in price recently - I don't know if it's because cheaper cuts are making a comeback on TV shows and in foodie mags, hence increasing demand (it used to be cheap as no-one wanted it), or if it's becasue of overall meat inflation.

Edited July 18, 2009 by waitingandsaving

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I've noticed that basic products like canned toms and beans are up 50% on last years prices, meat is pricier, and stocks on the shelves are more spread out so there's less to discount at the end of the day.

I take my grandmother shopping once a fortnight - she buys very similar stuff each time - nothing fancy, she still cooks from scratch, so mainly basics, no ready meals or anything (apart from ready made pies...). A couple of years ago, it would have been about Â£25-Â£30 for a shop. Now it averages out to Â£50 a time.

(snip)

Not just me then.

It doesn't massively affect me at the moment, but I was alarmed recently to hear of a couple of local "food bank" charities that provide nutritionally-balanced grocery packages for the poor and needy. Not so long ago I'd have considered food shortages and hunger to be "something that happens abroad" - I am a snob and live in what's supposed to be a reasonably affluent area. Guess I was wrong.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

It doesn't massively affect me at the moment, but I was alarmed recently to hear of a couple of local "food bank" charities that provide nutritionally-balanced grocery packages for the poor and needy. Not so long ago I'd have considered food shortages and hunger to be "something that happens abroad" - I am a snob and live in what's supposed to be a reasonably affluent area. Guess I was wrong.

Anecdotals from a couple of local churches round this way - one of which has a scheme where people bring food to the church and it's boxed up and redistributed by health visitors etc to families that need it - it's discretionary for them to give to who they think it will serve best, and some of the boxes are designed for people who don't have any method of cooking in the house (this last bit shocked me...)

Another church in the city did a similar thing for harvest festival time, and then kept going through until after the Christmas period, as the need was identified.

Another church near the city centre has an "open table" once a week - soup, roll and fruit to anyone who comes - for free.

It's projects and places like these that will identify the changes in wealth first. Homeless numbers will take a while to change, but an increase in demand for food will be primary indicators IMHO.

I live in Bournemouth and commute several miles to Christchurch to do work.

A while ago I wandered across to the local Sainsbury at lunchtime and found this local food bank/charity (cannot recall their name - sorry) outside. They were asking people to buy certain foodstuffs such as long-life orange juice to donate on the spot as it were.

I was a bit shocked by this and delving around found a similar Bournemouth-based charity (based in Charminster I think - not that it particularly matters) in an article by the local rag. The representative said they'd received an increased number of requests for help recently and that many of the people were ashamed to be contacting them.

I never seriously thought there was a need for charities like this in the UK before. Even when I was a undergraduate I managed to eat, albeit usually badly. That's another "fundamental human right" we cannot take for granted any more.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Guest happy?

Guest happy?

I live in Bournemouth and commute several miles to Christchurch to do work.

A while ago I wandered across to the local Sainsbury at lunchtime and found this local food bank/charity (cannot recall their name - sorry) outside. They were asking people to buy certain foodstuffs such as long-life orange juice to donate on the spot as it were.

I was a bit shocked by this and delving around found a similar Bournemouth-based charity (based in Charminster I think - not that it particularly matters) in an article by the local rag. The representative said they'd received an increased number of requests for help recently and that many of the people were ashamed to be contacting them.

I never seriously thought there was a need for charities like this in the UK before. Even when I was a undergraduate I managed to eat, albeit usually badly. That's another "fundamental human right" we cannot take for granted any more.

The churches have always provided this sort of support - even in the 1960's as a child I remember harvest festivals where we were encouraged to provide food donations for the needy. There's a long history of welfare charities obtaining foodstuffs from the big four food chains and of course those on strike have always banded together to share foodstuffs where state benefits have been withdrawn in order to break the strike (miners strike of 1984 is an obvious example.

Crisis has been offering such care and highlighting the problem for several decades www.fareshare.org.uk. Food poverty is among us - even in good times.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I think it was BlooLoo who used to post the cost of a monthly shop - he(?) sent his offspring at Uni a monthly care package - made up of exactly the same stuff each month - it was a great indicator for prices - I wonder if he still does it?

It may be eightiesgirly who does that.

As far as I'm concerned food prices have increased dramatically of late. You just have to shop wisely.

No way am I paying Â£2 for a bag of spuds. Watch out for the offers...

Tins of tuna, very lucky to find them at 50p a tin.

Just think how much food is imported and the devaluation of the pound.

Supermarkets appear to be profiteering on the switch to value brands, which have been creeping up (disproportionately).

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I must be honest here this is one of those things that really wind me up. This country has bailed out the banks. But has left parts of the communty without enough money to eat or even enough to afford heating to heat up the food (Shocked to hear that though). If the government has all this money to throw around how about encuraging companys like

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I never seriously thought there was a need for charities like this in the UK before. Even when I was a undergraduate I managed to eat, albeit usually badly. That's another "fundamental human right" we cannot take for granted any more.

It would be interesting to look at the budget of the typical person receiving food from this charity, to see how how they are prioritising their various human rights, and where food is placed in the burgeoning list of essentials.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

We (2 of us, and feeding regular visitors) have a fairly standard weekly shop at Lidl. At best it was Â£25 - Â£30 pw (2006/2007). It then went up to Â£35 - Â£40 pw for the same stuff. Coming back down now tho; vine toms, aubergines and zuccini very good value at the moment.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

It doesn't massively affect me at the moment, but I was alarmed recently to hear of a couple of local "food bank" charities that provide nutritionally-balanced grocery packages for the poor and needy. Not so long ago I'd have considered food shortages and hunger to be "something that happens abroad" - I am a snob and live in what's supposed to be a reasonably affluent area. Guess I was wrong.

It's long been reported that many "poor" eat a diet that is thoroughly unhealthy (though by no means cheap). Things like fish&chips, burgers, and for something a little less unhealthy, pizza. A charity might try to give them, and especially their children, something more healthy.

My own recent-ish experience of poverty reassures me I can still eat a nutritionally-better diet than that for Â£2/week. But if I were to be back to that level (i.e. run out of money and disallowed the dole 'cos I was making efforts to improve my lot), I'd accept a bit of variety where I could get it!